Thursday, May 6, 2010

Hello from the West Coast and a new Blogger!

Hello from the West Coast of Canada!

I recently jumped back into the world of makeup/beauty/fashion/accessories and just plain ole’ fun. At the age of 50, and after 3 years of personal and professional challenges, and the very recent death of my father, I found myself re – assessing my life and what I want to do with it. My father had always wanted to travel, but never got to do as much as he would have liked. He had dreams that he never attained for various reasons. I have been thinking about my life and what haven’t I done yet and why not? I’ve spoken with close friends, family and strangers alike for help with this need for insight.

What truly set me on the journey were a couple of YouTube makeup gurus! Lollipop 26 (Laura), and AllThatGlitters21 (Elle), both lovely young gals, though living on each side of the Atlantic, share a passion for life and for beauty!

Laura was the first one I began watching – I was entranced with her soft English way of speaking, her clear love for what she does on YouTube, her frankness about products whether it be makeup, clothing, jewellry, shoes or anything to do with this weird wonderful world of beauty! She is as frank about the integrity of companies who manufacture these products, and I personally found and do find this to be particularly refreshing! Well educated, well traveled and well spoken, she is a joy to watch and listen to.

Elle is a bubbly, blonde night owl, who is also a passionate southern belle, who’s humour and love of all things beautiful inspires her viewers to be the best that they can be. She is just graduating from college this month (Congratulations Elle!) and I hope that all that she has worked for in the past 4 years will lead her to a very bright future indeed! Elle’s tutorials are professionally done (though she is not a professional). She is thorough in her walk throughs as she shows you how to do a certain look, explaining an individual product, and of late, she has thoughtfully begun to list all the productsand prices of same, of all the makeup/brushes she used in the look of each tutorial. I have found this immensely helpful!

Elle has a younger sister, Blair, who also has a channel on YouTube, and both young women have their own blogs, as well as an online store that stocks some of the cutest products! Blair is now 17, and she is a mentor for many of her viewers around the world, many of whom are younger than herself, and again I feel this is a valuable service to young girls, who want to know how to use products and makeup properly. Some people do question as to whether or not these younger girls should be wearing makeup at all. Personally, having fostered and raised several young girls into adulthood, I say if they are going to do it, then I prefer that they have someone like Elle or Blair to show them the way.

So this is the first of many blogs to come as I wander through the path of beauty. It has helped me to start to feel better both inside and out, and I hope you will find something in this that will help you, inspire you, make you feel less alone in a personal or professional struggle, and generally, perhaps help you feel as if you’ve got a new friend in the world.

Many many thanks to the ladies I have acknowledged here, and I will be posting about many other wonderful girls and women who are on YouTube or have fantastic blogs that have enlightened and lightened up my world! and I hope you will be inspire by some of them even if you’re just a mascara and lip gloss kinda gal!